For Winter, a Robust Wine That's Full of Summer

By

Jay McInerney

Updated March 2, 2013 8:36 a.m. ET

I DON'T CARE what T.S. Eliot says, February is the cruelest month here in the Northeast. Daylight is still in pitifully short supply, the nights are long and bone-chilling, the snow has lost its novelty and my seasonal affective disorder is really kicking in. Time to break out the Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which is basically the vinous equivalent of a megadose of vitamin D—a hearty winter red that is the torrid essence of summer in Provence. Popping a bottle of Châteauneuf on a cold night is a little like opening the door of a sauna—a fragrant blast of heat. And it's hard to think of a better accompaniment to a...